News

(EnergyAsia, August 22 2017, Tuesday) — China’s crude oil production is on course to decline for the second consecutive year after registering a higher-than-expected fall of 5.1% in the first half of 2017 over the same period of 2016. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country produced 96.45 million tons (3.917 million...

(EnergyAsia, August 21, 2017, Monday) — Russian energy giant Rosneft’s plan to export natural gas to China has been boosted by its recent sale of a 20% stake in a subsidiary firm to Beijing Gas. The two state-owned firms have pledged to cooperate to develop the enormous oil and gas resources in Russia’s frontier Far...

(EnergyAsia, August 16 2017, Wednesday) — With an important political convention to be held later this year, China is pulling out all the stops to ensure its slowing economy will turn in a creditable performance for 2017. After years of expanding by annual rates of more than 10%, the Chinese economy has been growing at...

(EnergyAsia, July 3, 2017, Monday) — Iran has signed a landmark US$5 billion agreement with France’s Total and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to jointly develop phase 11 of its hugely coveted South Pars natural gas field. Total, the operator with a 50.1% share, and CNPC which has a 30% stake, are the first foreign companies...

(EnergyAsia, June 29 2017, Thursday) — Saudi Arabia’s hopes for a lofty market valuation of soon-to-be-listed state energy firm Aramco has been boosted by a consulting firm’s decision to raise the kingdom’s recoverable oil reserves by more than 26%. Cash-strapped Saudi Arabia is planning to sell a small stake in Aramco, believed to be around...

(EnergyAsia, June 29 2017, Thursday) — With the 2016 Brent crude price at a recent new low of US$43.74 a barrel, OPEC’s net oil export revenues plunged to a 13-year low of US$433.4 billion, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency’s latest calculations reflect the dire state of the economic outlook for the...

(EnergyAsia, June 19 2017, Monday) — As it digs in for a protracted political battle against several Arab countries, Qatar has been given a major endorsement by Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell with the signing of two new business agreements. Barely two weeks after Saudi Arabia and others cut off diplomatic ties with the emirate, Shell...

(EnergyAsia, June 16 2017, Friday) — Iraq is on course to boost its crude oil production capacity to a record five million b/d by end-2017, representing an increase of 10% to 15% over last year, said analysts. If it hits that target, Iraq would be capable of producing at twice the rate it did in...

(EnergyAsia, June 15, 2017, Thursday) — Saudi Arabia’s state oil firm Aramco and China’s Development Research Center (DRC) have agreed to step up their collaboration and research activities in the energy sector. The two organisations announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding last month to expand their joint work in accordance with their...

(EnergyAsia, June 9 2017, Friday) — The mother of all black swans swooped down on the Middle East this week and took the Arab world of Sunni Muslims to the brink of an unthinkable civil war. Qatar, the world’s leading liquefied natural gas producer and exporter, has placed its armed forces on full alert in...

(EnergyAsia, June 2 2017, Friday) — Thanks to its well-established storage, refining and banking infrastructure, Singapore remains an important player in Asia’s booming oil trade despite growing competition from other countries. China, India and South Korea, among Asia’s largest oil consumers, together with medium-sized players like Indonesia and Malaysia have been investing heavily to expand...

(EnergyAsia, June 1 2017, Thursday) — With China unable or unwilling to provide timely and accurate data on its oil stockpiling programme, two US satellite firms said they have the technology to help companies track and measure the country’s oil flows. Orbital Insight, a satellite-imaging and geospatial big data firm formed in 2013, is based...

(EnergyAsia, May 31 2017, Wednesday) — China could be in line to buy up more crude oil released from the US strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) following its first purchase in February. The prospect of the US selling off more stockpiled crude to China reflects the radically different outlook on supply adopted by the world’s two...

(EnergyAsia, May 30 2017, Tuesday) — With a wary eye on China’s expanding presence in their neighbourhood, Sri Lanka and India have agreed to jointly develop a largely underused oil tank farm in the strategic port of Trincomalee located on the island state’s northeastern region. The two governments are working out the project’s details following...

(EnergyAsia, May 29 2017, Monday) — Nearly three years after promising to improve the flow and quality of data on petroleum stockpiles, China is still struggling to meet the expectations of traders and analysts. US investment bank Jefferies LLC is the latest to question the competence of China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which...

(EnergyAsia, May 27 2017, Saturday) — Myanmar has started up its largest and Asia’s newest oil terminal to import fuels to meet the country’s growing energy demand. Singapore-based Puma Energy and Myanmar’s Asia Sun are the joint owners of the US$92 million terminal in the southern port of Thilawa located near the country’s main commercial...

(EnergyAsia, May 1 2017, Monday) — China’s HNA Innovation Finance Group Ltd is preparing to expand into the global oil storage industry when it completes the establishment of a new joint-venture firm with Swiss-based commodities trader Glencore. The companies announced in March that HNA has agreed to pay US$775 million in cash for a 51%...

(EnergyAsia, April 23 2017, Sunday) — Its once high-flying economies battered by two years of contraction, Central Asia is now waking to the growing threats of political instability, homegrown terrorism, and increased superpower manouvering in its backyard. The region has been badly exposed for its heavy economic reliance on commodities, particularly oil and gas which...

(EnergyAsia, April 17 2017, Monday) — China will remain a growing market for oil and natural gas exports from Kazakhstan with the recent launch of new links connecting the two countries. Last week, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said it has started up a 1,454-km pipeline to import natural gas from southern Kazakhstan. CNPC...

(EnergyAsia, April 14 2017, Friday) — Proponents of an 1,800-km pipeline to deliver natural gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India remain hopeful the project will be built despite running up against a continuous tide of political, financial and security challenges. First mooted more than 20 years ago, the proposed project has undergone numerous...

(EnergyAsia, April 3, 2017, Monday) — Central Asia’s weakening economic confidence has been further battered by reports that China has indefinitely delayed the planned expansion of a major pipeline network to import natural gas from the region. According to Russian and Chinese news reports, Beijing has decided not to proceed with building the fourth and...

(EnergyAsia, March 29, 2017, Wednesday) — Despite a near doubling in crude oil prices over the past year, the resources-dependent economies of Central Asia are nowhere near a full recovery and will continue to struggle in the near term, said the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). In separate reports, the two agencies said...

(EnergyAsia, March 28 2017, Tuesday) – US ratings agency Moody’s said Kazakhstan has been more resilient than Azerbaijan in adjusting to the collapse of oil prices since mid-2014. While both countries are heavily dependent on oil and gas for revenues, Kazakhstan has shown greater economic diversification, stronger institutions and lower debt levels than its Central...

(EnergyAsia, March 21 2017, Tuesday) — US ratings agency Fitch said Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, faces the risk of a credit downgrade due to its continuing financial struggles. Abbreviated from State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, the firm is often taken to measure the economic health of the Central Asian country. The fully...